Razer Synapse not switching profiles for some (major) apps

My guess is that they eventually want to make us pay for a synapse premium subscription to enable the blacklisted apps. But since it has been going on for a while, I imagine they are too incompetent to get the payments to work.

All this aside. While playing a game if I alt tab to do anything the keys change and don't always return when I put the game back in focus.

Even if a blocklist of executable names was added, it is still a bug that nothing in the software indicates that an executable is blocked. There should be an error message when you try to link a blocked executable, and there should be a warning if you have existing profiles that are linked to now-blocked executables.

It even says “Add Games & Programs” when you click the + to link a profile, and the title of list says “Add A Game/Program” which suggests that Programs should work the same way as games. The profiles link just as expected, and it looks like everything is in order. The switching simply doesn’t work anymore.

It sure feels like someone wanted to do this in the sneakiest, most devious way possible so that users wouldn’t become justifiably upset.Surreptitiously just blocking common programs with no warning is dishonest.

I would have returned my mouse to the retailer for a refund if Synapse had a blocklist like this when I purchased it. It’s a major bait and switch, and defeats the primary reason I bought a Naga in the first place, which was to have a ton of custom keybinds per-program.

Has anyone come up with new solutions for auto-switching not working for non-game?

It appears that the latest update has solved this issue.

However, you will have to reallocate all the settings!

It appears that somebody in Razer has realised that the feelings are running rather high.  It is a bit too little, too late for me.  My keyboard failed, and has been replaced with a Logitech one.  The mouse has also been replaced, although the Razer one is now a back-up.  The Nari headset also failed, and has been replaced by one from JBL. 

Had Customer Service provided real service, and apologised for the error and promised that it would be rectified - I would have stayed with Razer. 

They have lost a customer, and I do not feel that I can advise anyone to buy Razer.  Even though I think their hardware is first class, and their software has better functionality, the Customer Service is so poor that it isn't worth the effort.

This has not been my experience at all, and in fact, it seems to have gotten worse. How did you come to this conclusion? Did you receive any official information on the matter? When you say “reallocate all the settings” are you referring specifically to linking the executables, or something more involved?

I have tried unlinking and relinking the apps/games I have had issues with, and there has been no change. Also, I recently picked up the new game CONTROL Resonant(Steam), and despite adding the game’s exe and linking newly created profiles for my Tartarus V2 & Naga V2 Pro, Synapse refuses to switch to that profile when the game is launched and focused. It just doesn’t work with some games now either, so any BS about restricting non-game apps is just that. Total BS.

If there has actually been some change by the devs, it’s both undocumented AFAICT, or it’s implementation requiring some kind of voodoo to make things work again is also unacceptable. They broke it somehow(whether on purpose or not) they should be able to fix it on their own as well, or at the very least blast the proper steps to restore this functionality in giant neon.

Hi Baggy_Macdoosh,

This came from a support case that I had created when this whole mess started.

Here is the full text from their congratulations we have solved the mess we created:

Email dated 05 August 2026

Hi Adam, 

We have received feedback from the relevant team regarding the issue you reported with Synapse 4. According to their update, the programs Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, OneNote, Tor, and Windows Explorer have already been resolved. In some cases, you may need to re-add the program back into Synapse and then relaunch the application to see the changes take effect.

Could you please confirm which specific program is still not switching correctly on your end? This will help us ensure that the matter is fully addressed and allow the internal team to investigate further if needed.

We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work to resolve this matter.

To update this case, you can reply to this email or use our Razer Support Portal.

Sincerely,
Harris

When I informed them that there wasn't any change, I was informed that I needed to relink the programs.  I did this by removing all the linked programs, and re-linking them.

There has been another “update” to the Synapse programs, who knows what new bugs they have added.  I suppose we should be grateful that they do not charge extra for the bugs!

OMG I don’t actually believe this, but I finally got it to work! It took a couple more tries, and I had to remove all apps completely, then forced synapse to close(all processes). Then I manually added all the apps back and linked them each within the profiles. Then I quit synapse again and relaunched and it is all working like before all this began.

The only minor nitpick is that the option to have the popup in lower right corner of screen on profile switch, still only seems to work when a profile is assigned to a device button. It’s switching on app change now, but you just don’t get the popup alerting you to the profile switch.

Regardless, I’ll take this as a major win!

Razer folks, THANK YOU! I don’t know what all happened BTS and what it took to get back to this point and I don’t need to know, but when all said and done, I appreciate it greatly.

I know Synapse 4 gets a lot of flak, and I’m not diminishing anybody’s issues they’ve had with it, but this was really the only issue I’ve had with the software. All my profiles, settings, macros, everything has always just worked for me. I can go back to having my app/game profiles’ RGB be inline with my iCUE stuff and still have best of both worlds.

Thank you thank you thank you!